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The Adopt-A-Class program is a partnership between Ozark School District and Chamber of Commerce. The program pairs a local business with an Ozark School District classroom based on the business’s preference and interests.

Tips:

Meet with your teacher before your first visit to discuss curriculum and expectations

Visit the class a minimum of twice a year — once in the fall and once in the spring.

Curriculum possibilities are endless.

You can incorporate something from your own business. For example, in past years Blue Monkey Towing has flipped a car for students and the Christian County Headliner News has helped student write and design a newspaper of their own.

Sometimes just visiting your class and talking about your business is plenty.

There is also free material online. Junior Achievement offers step-by-step lesson plans for classroom visits. Junior Achievement also offers tips for working with students and preparing for the classroom visit. Learn more at www.juniorachievement.org.

OZARK, Mo. — Ozark has a new assistant – just “ask Alexa.” The good news is, Alexa does not ask for a raise, take vacation or call in sick.

VoiceXP, an Amazon Technology Partner company, has debuted an exclusive Amazon Alexa Skill featuring the City of Ozark, Ozark Chamber of Commerce, and Show Me Christian County. The Skill is the only one in the U.S. to feature a multifaceted municipality.

The Skill will use Alexa voice technology to deliver information about Ozark’s events, locations of interest, city services, and more on the Amazon Echo platform. More than 40 million Amazon Echo devices exist in homes and businesses across the U.S.

The Alexa Skill helps position Ozark as a leader in the tech sector, particularly in voice technology.

“We are committed to growing Christian County businesses using voice in this area. We want to make Missouri the epicenter for voice disruption,” said Bob Stolzberg, VoiceXP CEO.

“What is very unique about this particular Skill is it affects the City, the County, and the Chamber. This is the first time in the world those three entities have come together to form a skill and have that be noted out on the Amazon platform,” said Bonnie Snyder, managing partner and director of business sales at VoiceXP.

USE THE SKILL

To enable the Skill, activate your Amazon Echo by saying “Alexa, start City of Ozark, Missouri.” The Skill will then become enabled on your Echo device, with prompts for which questions to ask and what information is available.

Sample questions to ask Alexa include but are not limited to:

What is there to do in Ozark?

Tell me about the historic district.

Tell me about the schools in Ozark.

Where is the Farmers Market?

Why do people come to Ozark?

Where is the nearest airport?

What city services does Ozark offer?

Amazon’s Echo platform currently holds more than 70% of the voice market share, with additional platforms like Google Home and Microsoft’s Cortana sharing the remaining market. According to Stolzberg, voice technology is predicted to be present in more than 75% of American homes by the year 2020.

Ozark wants to be on the leading edge of that growth.

“We want to showcase the tech innovation that’s possible in Ozark,” said Snyder. “We have the connectivity, infrastructure, and technology base. You don’t have to live in Chicago to create new developments in tech; you can innovate right here.”

VoiceXP offices from the Carl G. Hefner Enterprise Center in Ozark, Mo. The Alexa Skill “City of Ozark, Missouri” was created by VoiceXP in partnership with the City of Ozark, the Ozark Chamber of Commerce, and the Show Me Christian County economic development organization.

We’re giving away $25 in $BeOzarkBuck$! To enter, comment #BeOzark on THIS POST. Share the post to be entered twice.

The winner will be announced after 3:00 pm on Friday, Feb. 24. Good luck!

CONTEST RULES:

NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. This giveaway, hosted by the Ozark Chamber of Commerce, is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Facebook.

1. Eligibility: This campaign is open only to those who comment “#BeOzark” on the Ozark Chamber’s Facebook post announcing the giveaway. Employees of the Ozark Chamber of Commerce and immediate family members of Ozark Chamber employees are not eligible to participate. The giveaway is subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Void where prohibited.

3. Prizes: The winner will receive a gift certificate worth $25 in $BeOzarkBuck$, the Ozark Chamber’s community cash program. The specifics of the prize shall be solely determined by the Ozark Chamber of Commerce. Acceptance of the prize constitutes permission for the Ozark Chamber to use the winner’s name, likeness, and entry for purposes of advertising and trade without further compensation, unless prohibited by law.

4. Odds: The odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received.

5. Winner Selection and Notification: Winner will be selected by a random drawing under the supervision of the Ozark Chamber of Commerce. The winner will be notified through a post on the Ozark Chamber of Commerce Facebook page announcing the winner within five (5) days following selection of the winner. If the winner cannot be contacted or fails to claim the prize within seven (7) days from the time award notification was sent, the prize may be forfeited and an alternate winner selected.

6. Terms & Conditions: The Ozark Chamber of Commerce reserves the right to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Campaign should virus, bug, non-authorized human intervention, fraud, or other cause beyond the Ozark Chamber’s control corrupt or affect the proper conduct of the Campaign. The Ozark Chamber of Commerce reserves the right to disqualify any individual who tampers or attempts to tamper with the entry process or violates these Terms & Conditions.

7. Sponsor: The sponsor of the campaign is the Ozark Chamber of Commerce (1471 W. South St, Ozark, MO 65721).

Congratulations to Family Pharmacy, one of our Ozark Chamber Impact members! Readers of the Springfield News-Leader recently named Family Pharmacy as “Best of the Ozarks – Drug Store/Pharmacy.” Family Pharmacy has been an involved, integral part of Ozark and Southwest Missouri for decades and we congratulate them on this honor.

From a media release:

“Family Pharmacy was recently selected as the top choice by over 150,000 votes cast in the News-Leader‘s annual ‘Best of the Ozarks’ readers poll. In the Ozarks, Family Pharmacy was the top choice for the best Drug Store/Pharmacy, beating out several national chains, as well as other area independent pharmacies.”

Ozark, MO, August 9, 2016—Ozark Chamber of Commerce today announced plans to strengthen and grow its Buy Local program by partnering with Conpoto, a Michigan-based Community Currency software firm.

Ozark will use Conpoto’s cloud-based software to help fuel the local spending, providing an online platform for local gifting that competes effectively with big box retailers and credit card companies. The chamber is naming its program $BeOzarkBuck$.

$BeOzarkBuck$ will be available for purchse from the chamber’s website September 1, 2016. The chamber will use

the program to drive local spending by connecting merchant members with large employers,

providing a community gifting alternative for client recognition, employee incentive and recognition giving.

“The Chamber of Commerce is all about making our community successful,” said Andrea Sitzes, Ozark Chamber executive director. “With community currency, we can show visibly how we’re working to keep dollars circulating within our own community.”

Conpoto has been working with Great Lakes region chambers for more than a year, bolstering

membership and community.

“Community Currency drives business and revenue to Main Street retailers by making it easier

“Conpoto thinks like a technology company, but we all bleed local. Helping chambers like Ozark realize the rewards of a fully functioning Buy Local machine is what ignites our passion for work every day.”

About Conpoto, LLC

Based in Holland, Mich., Conpoto is a cloud-based community currency software built for

chambers of commerce and membership organizations to fuel their local economies. Conpoto’s

technology drives local spending and serves as the foundation for buy local campaigns in

Thank you to all of the vendors, volunteers and the community members that came out to help make Showcase Ozark 2014 a huge success. We had higher numbers and a sold-out event and that is all because of our wonderful community of Ozark!

Take time to enjoy the photo gallery and if you have any pictures you would like to add please email them to info@ozarkchamber.com.

Discover & Explore Tuscany

with the

Ozark Chamber of Commerce

Join us for the trip of a lifetime as we enjoy the beautiful countryside of Tuscany, works of art by famous artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Dante and Michelangelo, sight-seeing at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and relax in Venice.